Which OEM will be mass producing the world’s most powerful 1/2-ton pickup? At this point, at least as far as official announcements go, it’s Ram with its 702-hp 2021 1500 TRX.
But then, just a few days after Ram broke the news about its supercharged dirt scrambler, thedrive reported that Ford would be offering a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 in its 2021 F-150 Raptor with more power than the TRX. (2020 Ford Raptor shown above because the 2021 has not yet been revealed.)
According to The Drive, an unnamed source reported that the same engine used to power Ford’s GT500 “will make anywhere between 725 and 750 hp” in Ford’s next Raptor.
So when’s the truck coming? Ford won’t say. And will it actually have a supercharged V8? Again, no word from Ford. But keep in mind that Ford like other OEMs has a policy of not publicly commenting on future product. A YouTube user summed it all up quite nicely.
“Somebody from Ford ‘leaked’ to take the wind from Ram’s sails,” writes Bob in response to an F-150 test mule video posted on F150Gen14’s YouTube channel. “It’ll supposedly have the Predator supercharged 5.2 crossplane V8. Thank God. That v6 is cool, but there’s no replacement for displacement.”
What Bob and a lot of others may have missed is that GM has both Ram and Ford beat with its 800-hp 2021 Limited Edition Yenko/Sc Silverado pickup which is available through GM dealers as a special order truck (or at least it was when the story broke last month).
However, the Specialty Vehicle Engineering monster piece is limited edition. Fifty trucks are planned. That’s it. So at this point, Ram can still officially lay claim to having plans for the most powerful, mass produced ½-ton truck.
That is apparently until Ford comes along with its 2021 Raptor. And then things will get real crazy with electric pickups, all of which can easily leave their internal combustion friends in the dust so long as the battery’s charged and hasn’t been drained from doing normal truck things like hauling and towing. Can’t wait to test one though we don’t have any EV chargers out here in the country. Guess we’ll just have to use the diesel generator. That’ll make for some great photos, I’m sure.